If you’ve ever rented terrible films on VHS, The Last Gun will give you instant nostalgia.
From the moment the audience enters they’re confronted with a TV and VCR, imploring someone to insert the tape. After a Gen Z gentleman obliges (after instruction from the cringing older audience as he’s ‘never seen one of these before’), we’re treated to the critics’ commentary on an action movie hidden gem where all the world’s weapons have been destroyed except the titular gun.
Will’s ingenuity with props and meta humour as he plays every character reminds me of The Mighty Boosh; everything from the googly-eyed Sock Dad to the claw-toting villain is charmingly low-budget. The TV ‘documentary’, itself sending up the kind of po-faced bonus material on many films, is perfectly timed to not only Will’s real-life lines, but the audience members asked up at various parts of the show. I’ve never seen someone asked to mould props from Plasticine, or play a video game designed by the show writer – and then beat him at it!
The small details are great, like the continuity errors arising from actor/director feuds and the more 18 certificate scene being dubbed. Even the hero’s beloved Sock Dad losing an eye in a pivotal scene is somehow fitting.
The Last Gun is a brilliant love letter to B-movies and Will BF shows serious potential as the next big surreal comedy star.
****